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Hackett · 10-25-05, 11:22 PM

I have just been "Reliably" informed, with a slapped wrist! That the "Jack Staff" (Also known as the "Merchant Jack, Stern Jack, Signal Jack", and of course the "Pilot Jack".) used on vessels after 1899, was used in an attempt to standardize pennat signals to request a harbour pilot. With each nation having it's own pennat, and only truely being standardized in 1946.

"The term Pilot Jack, according to Cecil King, first appeared in an official printed document in the Royal Navy General Signals of 1868, but not in Merchant Navy publications until the 1900 revisions to the Code of Signals. It was being used in Orders in Council by 1933, probably incorrectly, as it had not been defined."

"I gather that German merchant ships still (again) follow this practice, flying the flag of the homeport at the jackstaff. But--and I'm far from an expert on German flag terminology, as my recent excursion into Flagge/Fahne will have made clear--this flag seems to be called in German a Bugflagge (bow flag), with the term Gösch (jack) confined to the national jack.
Until compelled to fly the swastika flag as a jack, German liners sailing out of Hamburg and Bremen flew the pre-1867 national flags of those cities as jacks."

So the installation of the "Jack Staff" can be prudentley presumed to be an oversight, or mistake, as at the time of building (Not to be confused with commissioning.) the country, while re-arming was infact still at peace.

10-25-05, 11:22 PM	#14
Hackett Mate Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 60 Downloads: 53 Uploads: 0	I have just been "Reliably" informed, with a slapped wrist! That the "Jack Staff" (Also known as the "Merchant Jack, Stern Jack, Signal Jack", and of course the "Pilot Jack".) used on vessels after 1899, was used in an attempt to standardize pennat signals to request a harbour pilot. With each nation having it's own pennat, and only truely being standardized in 1946. "The term Pilot Jack, according to Cecil King, first appeared in an official printed document in the Royal Navy General Signals of 1868, but not in Merchant Navy publications until the 1900 revisions to the Code of Signals. It was being used in Orders in Council by 1933, probably incorrectly, as it had not been defined." "I gather that German merchant ships still (again) follow this practice, flying the flag of the homeport at the jackstaff. But--and I'm far from an expert on German flag terminology, as my recent excursion into Flagge/Fahne will have made clear--this flag seems to be called in German a Bugflagge (bow flag), with the term Gösch (jack) confined to the national jack. Until compelled to fly the swastika flag as a jack, German liners sailing out of Hamburg and Bremen flew the pre-1867 national flags of those cities as jacks." So the installation of the "Jack Staff" can be prudentley presumed to be an oversight, or mistake, as at the time of building (Not to be confused with commissioning.) the country, while re-arming was infact still at peace.